In our last Newsletter, we explained why, in this current employment market, you might be required to broaden yourtechnical criteria for openings in your group. Since the tight labor market requires a loosening of your technical specifications, you may need to balance that out with a tightening of your intangible criteria. We explained the perfect storm of factors that have come together to create this very tight labor market. Indeed, this is the tightest labor market for skilled professionals that I have seen in more than 25 years of recruiting. For a review of these conditions, our last Newsletter is available on our web site, www.rightrecruiting.com, under the Newsletter tab.
Last quarter I ended the Newsletter by promising to point out some tools and techniques that will help you in decoding a candidates personal attributes. After all, character counts.
There are a few factors to consider when you have to evaluate a living, breathing person and not just a resume in front of you. You need to be conscious of motivation and integrity. They are entwined together. Many managers and companies forget that the candidate has a vote in the process. A candidate must actually want to accept your job and that candidate’s desire must somewhat intersect with the broader skill sets you now require.
Earlier this year a company in Willow Grove contacted me. They had been looking for a Sales Engineer to no avail for months and they asked for help. They were a small OEM and wanted someone with specific experience selling to a specific industry. I asked them what type of people they had seen so far and the HR person said that they saw two perfect people, both of whom had turned the job down.
Uh oh, I thought. This company missed the last half of the definition of “the perfect person” for any job. The perfect person is someone who has the defined qualifications to do the job and WHO ACTUALLY WANTS THE JOB. In other words, the market had signaled to the company that, to the ideal candidate, the job they were trying to fill was not perfect for them as potential employees. As much as a company wants a perfect person, the candidate also wants a perfect job. Somewhere in the twain, the two intersect. If your definition of the perfect person is a defined set of rigid skill sets then you must make absolutely sure that your opportunity (compensation, career track, etc.) represents the perfect opportunity to the candidate you are seeking. In the above-mentioned situation, the company emailed me the resumes of the people who had said no to the job. Astonishingly, when I looked at the resumes, I could not figure out why the candidates had even considered the job to begin with. Both people came from top-flight companies well established in the target market. I would guess that their comp figures were 20k above my client’s range. One person actually managed two other junior people in his current job, something that would not occur in my client’s job. In other words, there was absolutely nothing to motivate the perfect candidate to take the job. Why would they risk their current opportunity in selling some of the best products in their market to sell an unproven product for less salary? My client kept expecting them to see the opportunity. All the candidates saw was a step back in their career and a major risk. To the candidates, the only opportunity visible was to take a risk and work hard for a few years to get to a level they had already achieved. Where was the opportunity?
This is when you must make candidate motivation become a tool for you. I have always felt that if you have the type of job that someone really, really, really wants, then that person will work harder to be successful than someone who is just taking the job for location, money or more tangible interests. Attempt to determine what would be positive about the job to someone who is not the perfect person but who has some, but not all, of the needed criteria. For example, are you in a hot industry? Are you looking for a future manager?
Maybe you are a small, growing foods company. You are looking for a Project Engineer and you are interviewing people from Campbell’s Soup, Hershey and other large firms. You have run into a problem. Not only are they all making more than you want to pay, they all have well-structured and cushy jobs. You can almost see their noses turn up when they walk into your small plant. Your job does not match your perfect candidate’s perfect job. Do you pay more and hope to buy someone’s loyalty? No, there is another option.
What type of industry provides similar, but not direct, experience to foods? How can you use your stable, non-cyclical industry as a drawing card and recruiting advantage? When I think of foods, I think of high-speed machinery, packaging, and related production processes. What other industries use them? Are any of those industries insecure or bad places in which to work? Pharma companies package products but they can be tough to compete with in salary and benefit issues. Printing is high speed and can be a low margin employer. Hmmm, maybe someone in printing might see a move to foods as an industry upgrade. Also, how about third party packaging companies, even if not food related? Someone from that environment might be a little beat up by shifting contracts and insecurity yet still have 80% of the tech skills you seek. You may be able to pay 10% less for that person and get an individual who relishes an opportunity to work in the foods industry and for a company that actually makes a product. You have now created the perfect job opportunity for a candidate who will want your job. You have loosened your technical specs but tightened your intangible specs by saying, “I need someone who strongly wants the type of work we do here.” A driven employee with partial skills can be a lot more effective than a casual employee who is acting as if he is doing you a favor by working for you.
Your company may have a key retirement coming up in 2-3 years and you want to groom someone as a replacement. These are often great opportunities for people who haven’t reached a manager level at their current company and who have potential but who can be decades away from moving up because of organizational or growth issues at their current firms. The default spec is often for someone who is a strong manager now and who will be able to walk into the retiree’s slot easily. Naturally, the company wants the progression to be easy and seamless. Here is the usual scenario and the usual candidate response.
Acme Corp’s Marketing Manager will retire in 3 years and they want to groom someone to replace him. The person will inherit a job that manages a 6-person department and reports to a VP. They want someone with at least 10 years experience and who has managed in the past so that they will be ready for promotion immediately upon the planned retirement. To ABC Company, this is a growth job because, in their minds, this person is already the next Manager.
Hence the problem. They want someone who now has supervisory experience and they eliminate people who are on the cusp on management at their current firms. Here is what happens when I approach someone who is managing now. “John”, says I, “I have a job with Acme Corp. They are doing some succession planning and they are looking for someone who can move into a Marketing Manager role in 3 years and supervise a 6-person department. Response, “Gee Jeff, that sounds great but I now manage 3 people and to wait a possible 3 years to move to a level where I manage 3 more people seems like a long time. I feel like I am at that level already. What would be my motivation for that job?”
Once again, the motivation issue gets in the way. Why? Because the company is actually looking for someone more senior than they actually need. They have two options. One, downgrade the experience level of the job. Hire someone a level below a manager with LOTS of potential, or, wait till the retirement is closer and then try and hire a strong manager to quickly move into the manager slot. As they have configured the job now, their perfect candidate has no motivation to take the job. Of course, they can always dramatically increase the salary and buy loyalty but that rarely is effective over the mid-term.
If they choose to hire someone a little more junior but with a ton of potential they should be able to attract energetic candidates who have plateaued in their current company. The visible potential of the promotion is the attraction itself, not money or other tangible skills. If they wait to hire, they will have an existing slot to move a stronger person into and may be able to attract a seasoned manager from a weaker firm. Either option will get them a better-motivated candidate.
Positioning a job spec so that candidate motivation works for you can be a powerful tool. It can get you a more energized candidate and save you money too - a powerful combination. Of course, you need two things to make this successful. One, you need to be a good enough manager yourself to work with the person on the technical or managerial skills they need. Two, you need to properly evaluate the candidate’s motivation and integrity. You can be in charge of your personal managerial skills but I can give you some tips on the second thing, candidate evaluation.
I begin my candidate evaluation with a few premises.
1)Most people are honestbut sometimes they lie to themselves. 2)Most people know what to say on an interview to make themselves look good. 3)Actions speak louder than words. Evaluate what they have done and what they do during the interview process. 4)Consistency is king.
Rather than explain them one by one, let’s roll them all up in a couple of scenarios to see them in action. A recent search for a client in Jersey might be instructive. The client wanted a Production Manager. They needed a person who could effectively manage a 50-person operation through three supervisors. I think they correctly said to themselves that a BS/BA candidate, hopefully an engineer, who has been a strong first-line supervisor and who had lots of maturity and potential might be ready for the job. To a candidate with that profile, this would be an attractive job. A step up for them.
Here is where you need to evaluate the sincerity of the candidate motivations. Since many people will lie to themselves about who they want to be, they will inevitably lie to you also. You need to drill down a bit in your interview.
There are two primary tools I use. The first is a search for congruity between their stated goal and their past actions. In other words, do their career actions and decisions to date support their stated motivations? For example, a candidate who says they want an operations track yet who has gotten a MSME instead of an MBA might be signaling a strong interest in remaining highly technical. A candidate who started their career as a Production Supervisor and then moved to an engineering role because of a lack of technical challenge may do so again. A candidate who says they are ambitious yet who quit a job 3 years ago to save 5 minutes on their commute may be signaling a work/home balance that belies that ambition. When evaluating candidate actions you need to look for consistency between stated career goals and career choices to date. Someone who has done nothing to prepare for an operations career but sits in front of you saying they want to be a manager is a bad bet. They might be trying out a job/career track as if they would a new suit. If it does not fit, they will throw it away. Many managers look at a resume and see a checklist of skills. You should also see it as a biography and a map of decision-making skills. Learn to read it.
Also, look for consistency in the interview process. If they say they are driven to explore your job yet are hard to schedule for an interview, that can be inconsistent. If it takes them days to get back to you after you have left a message, that means something. I see it as a small but very positive sign if when I leave a message with a spouse, they know who I am. It means the candidate has discussed the job with them with enthusiasm. Small tips can help you see hidden traits. Candidates are savvy and know that they should always keep their options open. Proclaiming strong enthusiasm to any potential employer can be a reflex to them. A motivated candidate is one who will go out of their way to fulfill reasonable interview requirements on your part. Once again, behavior that is inconsistent with stated goals is a disconnect that needs to be seriously considered.
The second tool is a very simple one. Just use the question, “Why?” Before starting Right Recruiting, I managed multiple offices for one of the regions largest recruiting firms, both in Philly and nationally. All people who interview for sales related jobs, like recruiting, always say the are motivated to make money. They know that in an interview that are supposed to proclaim that they want a high-income career. After a few years of hearing that script, I started asking a simple question, “Why do you want to make a lot of money?” A very small percentage of people had an actual answer to that. They were programmed to say it, whether they actually meant it or not. Some, a small percentage, had real, tangible answers. Maybe they grew up poor and could point to specific things they wanted in their life; a shore house, lavish vacations, etc. Maybe they just had their first child and one spouse wanted to quit work and they needed to make up the lost income. Maybe their friends in college had become successful lawyers or accountants and they were feeling left behind. It did not matter ifthe answers were trivial or profound. I just wanted a reason.
If someone says to you that they have devoted their education and career to becoming a manager at a company, ask them why. If someone says that they have devoted their education and career to get into the medical products world, ask them why. If their motivations are sincere, they should certainly be able to provide a coherent answer. If they stammer and shuffle, you are getting empty rhetoric.
What you are doing is evaluating people on two tracks: skills sets and personal characteristics. There are two criteria for candidates. The first, how strong are they in the required specific technical skills. Two, are they a quality person. The second criteria is basically a combination of the motivation and character of the candidate. Many bad hiring decisions have been based on companies over-valuing the first criteria and ignoring the second. Properly positioned, the second criteria can be a powerful tool for you and a great magnet to get skilled people into your organization.
Hopefully, this gives you some insight into your hiring process and can provide you a new tool to help you attract better people. Please remember Right Recruiting for your hiring needs and, of course, Go Phillies!!
RIGHT RECRUITING Water Tower Building, 6198 Butler Pike, Suite 120, Blue Bell, PA 19422 Tel: 215-641-9300 Fax: 215-641-9308 jeffzinser@rightrecruiting.com